Hogsett is nearly half way through his term, but he still has two years to make the difference on public safety that he promised and the city needs.

I like Joe Hogsett. He's earnest and energetic and cares deeply about the city he serves as mayor.

I also want Joe Hogsett to succeed as Indy's chief executive. His success in many ways equals our city's success. And as a 20-year resident, I'm invested heavily here, including the fact that my four adult children and my daughter-in-law call Indy home.

So I write this without pleasure:

Joe Hogsett is failing to fulfill his most important responsibility as the mayor of Indianapolis.

The city, with three weeks left in the year, is on the verge of setting yet another annual record for homicides.

Just as we set a record in 2016. And in 2015.

Hogsett has been mayor for two years, and both have been the deadliest in Indianapolis' long history.

In 2015, when he campaigned for mayor, Hogsett pledged that if elected he would significantly reduce the violence in our city. His passionate vow to make Indianapolis a safer place to live and to work resonated with voters. And he entered office in early 2016 on a wave of optimism that the former U.S. attorney could bring relief to the crush of violence that plagues neighborhoods and terrorizes residents.

But now, on the cusp of 2018, Indianapolis is more violent than it's ever been.

A new police chief hasn't reversed the trend. Neither has hiring more officers to patrol the streets. Nor has the adoption of new crime-fighting strategies, such as data-driven and beat policing.

Perhaps those investments and plans will pay off in the future. But for now, they haven't worked with anything close to the impact we need.

So again, with sadness, I write: Joe Hogsett is failing at priority No. 1.

Now, failing is not the same as failed. The verb tense matters. Hogsett is nearly half way through his term, but he still has two years to make the difference on public safety that he promised and the city needs.

Hogsett has told me more than once that serving as mayor is by wide measure the hardest job he's had, harder than he ever imagined it would be before he sat behind the big desk on city hall's 25th floor. By hard, I think he means in large part the intense pressure that comes in living with every phone call, text message and overnight report that details another life lost, another family ripped apart.

So I'm confident that Joe Hogsett feels the ramifications of his failure on a deep, gut-churning level.

"I want to recognize the brave men and women of IMPD for their tireless work, as well as the community and faith partners who assist them, but also be incredibly clear: this violence is unacceptable, and more must be done," Hogsett said in a written response to questions about the devastating rate of homicides. "That’s why over the next year we will grow our police force to the highest levels in our city’s history, while also making critical investments in innovative tools and community-based tactics to address the root causes of violence."

We all hope that 2018 will be a safer, saner year than this one. No one wants that hope to be fulfilled more than Joe Hogsett.

But hope for the future doesn't negate the misery of our current reality.

Our city is bleeding. And our mayor must find a way to make it stop.

Contact Swarens at tim.swarens@indystar.com. Friend him on Facebook at Tim Swarens; follow him on Twitter @tswarens.